Chapter 179 - Ace vs. Emperor, Part-Two (1/2)

Akashi and Aomine stood at the top of the key, both ready to start the scrimmage.

Akashi passed the ball to Aomine with a bounce-pass and spoke.

Akashi: ”Daiki, you should go first. I will give you a chance to put up a fruitless effort.”

Aomine received the ball and smirked haughtily at Akashi.

Aomine: ”Then I won't hold back. I will score one, and pull away from you right from the start.”

Between the hustle-bustle of the gym, both of the participants got into position, Aomine was on offense, and Akashi was on defense.

Aomine lifted his legs one at a time and gave them a good shake to loosen them up, and with a lazy grin on his face, got into the triple-threat stance.

Aomine started by swinging the ball like a pendulum as it rested in both of his hands. Akashi got into a defensive stance and concentrated on Aomine and the ball in his grasp.

For a moment, none of the two moved. The first one to move was Aomine, and he moved suddenly and quickly.

His legs, which were beside each other, suddenly moved. He directed his toes to the right, slid his right to the front, and pushed his body towards the right. He held the ball in his right hand and exploded to the right.

In that exact moment, Akashi's eyes came to life, and the Emperor-Eyes were activated. His left hand twitched into action and moved towards the ball.

Everyone in the gym held their breath to see if Aomine would cross Akashi, or Akashi would cease Aomine's offense.

The exchange was short. At that moment, Aomine saw Akashi's hand moving towards the ball.

Aomine: 'His ability sure is a pain in the b.u.t.t, but this isn't enough to stop me.'

Aomine put more strength into his legs to move faster and pushed the ball towards the ground with a hard-dribble. Aomine at a whole become faster, and Akashi, who had moved his hand towards the ball, missed it completely.

The second later, Aomine was moving towards the basket, leaving behind a surprised Akashi.

Aomine Daiki had broken Akashi's triple-threat penetration.

-*-*-*-

The crowd erupted in cheers as Aomine passed Akashi.

Member A: ”Wow! He is so fast! Did you see how he moved from his rest position? It was so quick.

It was like, Baam-Baam, whoosh.”

Member B: ”Waoh, how can he move so fast. Does he eat something special?

Like, how can a person be so nimble!”

The people around the gym were amazed by Aomine's speed and agility. The speed which was fast enough to get around the fabled Emperor-Eyes.

Aomine Daiki's true potential shined.

The person who in an Alternate Universe had stopped practicing altogether still managed to be one of the strongest players in the whole of Japan, now practiced regularly.

Only the person himself knew his limits.

Aomine finished the first exchange with a mighty dunk to the basket.

He got to the ground and turned his head to look at Akashi with a smirk plastered on his face.

Akashi met the mocking smirk with cold indifference.

-*-*-*-

On the sidelines, the inner circle of the first-string watched the exchange with wide-eyes.

Unlike the other people who were watching and swooning over Aomine's speed, they clearly understood the quality of speed required to brute force through the threat of Akashi's Emperor-Eyes.

Kise: ”To think he was holding back so much.”

The speed Aomine used was greater than he used against Kise when they played one-on-one every day.

Muarasakibara and Midorima also watched Aomine with wide-eyes. They weren't expecting Aomine to break through Akashi in the first exchange.

Midorima took in a deep breath and sighed with amazement.

Midorima: ”The speed that surpassed Akashi's Emperor-Eyes.”

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Aomine walked to the top of the key with the ball in his hand. He stopped in front of Akashi and passed him the ball.

Aomine: ”One point for me, Akashi. Let's see what you got.”

Akashi caught the ball and didn't say anything. He just got into an attack position, and Aomine replied by getting into a defensive position.

The rings of Emperor-Eyes slowly became visible in Akashi's eyes. The eyes translated all the bodily information into future predictions, and the mind of Akashi Seijuro was left to use that prediction to his advantage.

Akashi's ball-handling came to play. He picked up a dribble and moved the ball between his legs from his left hand to the right hand, followed by a back-change back to the left hand, and leaned to the left for a drive.

Aomine shifted his weight to the left, ready to block Akashi, but the next moment, Akashi once again performed a back-change and threw Aomine off-balance with his ankle-break dribble.

Aomine tumbled down to the left, while Akashi took a shot to the basket. After releasing the ball, he looked down at Aomine and spoke.

Akashi: ”Lower your head.”

Aomine narrowed his eyes as he looked at the ball swishing into the net. He clicked his tongue as he got up from the floor.

The feeling of caught in an ankle-break was never pleasant.

-*-*-*-

Satsuki sighed as she watched Akashi breaking Aomine's ankles.

Kise turned to the team's manager and asked with an inquisitive tone in his voice.

Kise: ”What is it, Momo-cchi?”

Satsuki paused before replying to Kise's question.

Satsuki: ”I was just thinking about Akashi-kun's ankle-break dribble.”

Kuroko, who was standing with them, nodded and chimed in.

Kuroko: ”Yes, it is a spectacular weapon to have in your arsenal.”

Midorima, who was listening to the conversation, saw Satsuki's expression and inquired.